Political Union
by Imagination 5
Summary: A terrible one-shot Gippal x Baralai my friends demanded of me. It's far from a literary masterpiece. Proceed with caution. Not for children under 16, the elderly, pregnant women, or people with a heart, urinary, or bowel condition.


"Uh uh." Gippal tipped back in his seat, fist on his chin. "You want us to give up our machina? I ain't buyin' it, Baralai."

"The teachings of Yevon state that machina are forb-"

"The teachings of Yevon state a lotta outdated crap." Gippal leaned forward again, elbows on the smooth wooden table, propping up his chin with his fists with a bored expression. "But either way, the machina stay. We're not gonna be the Machine Faction without em now, are we? And you don't complain when we send you parts for your own machina. Stuff we sweat and break our backs to get out in the desert."

"It's the people of Yevon, Gippal. They don't feel comfortable watching you excavating machina for your own purposes. I'm imploring you to consider the opt-"

"Yada yada yada." Gippal smiled softly, opening and closing his fist to mock Baralai. "You keep talkin', dontcha Baralai. But you aren't getting through to me at all." He stretched his arms, groaning in ecstasy as the tension from sitting in a seat too long was relieved. Baralai blushed and looked down. "Am I makin' you uncomfortable, B?" asked Gippal, tilting his head to one side as he used the nickname he had always addressed Baralai with back in their time as Crimson Squad trainees and fugitives, that same smile still on his face.

Baralai's mouth opened and closed as he spluttered, his cheeks pinkening ever so slightly. "N-no."

"Suuuure I ain't." Gippal stretched his hands, cracking his knuckles before turning to a taller man with black dreadlocks. "You've been awfully quiet, Deathseeker. What's on your mind?"

Nooj blinked, taking a moment to register the question before shaking his head. "It's nothing. I'm just a little tired. And I have something else to do. So I'm going to call it a day. Feel free to continue without me. I'll be back tomorrow.

As Nooj grabbed his silver cane and got to his feet, Gippal jumped up with him, his chair clattering onto the ground. "Heyheyhey! Where are you going? You can't just tell us then keep it a secret from us!"

Nooj blinked. "It's not a secret. Leblanc just wants to see me."

Baralai looked interested, leaning forward as Gippal smiled coyly. "Leblanc, huh?" he asked. "What does she want?"

"She just wants to show me some spheres she found in the ruins of Remiem Temple." Nooj's eyes narrowed from behind his glasses as he adapted a suspicious expression. "Why are you so curious, anyway?" H took a step forward, and Gippal jumped back, still smiling.

Clasping his hands together, raising them to his face, and gazing up to the roof of the tent with a lovestruck expression in his eyes, Gippal stuck his tongue out and spoke in a high, raspy imitation of a certain someone. "Oh Noojie-Woojie, love!" he exclaimed.

A snort from behind suggested that the imitation had worked like a charm, and when the leaders of the Machine Faction and the Youth League looked, New Yevon's esteemed praetor had a clenched fist covering his mouth, his entire body quavering with suppressed laughter.

Nooj blinked. "I don't get what you're talking about.

Gippal grew serious for a minute, leaning forward so that his head was almost touching Nooj's head. "Really? You don't have a clue?"

"No." Raising his cane, Nooj pushed Gippal away from him, causing the blond man to stagger and almost fall, before he regained his balance by grabbing onto the table and hopping with one leg. "Really. Tell me what's going on."

"Well, let's just say that Leblanc only got eyes for two spheres. And they're always jumping from place to place."

There was another snort from Baralai, and Nooj blinked yet again. "I don't get you at all.

"Think about it." Gippal patted Baralai on the back. "Now hurry up, or you're gonna be late!" Guiding Nooj out the door, the older man never lost his suspicious expression as he finally passed through the tent glap, the sounds of his cane on the ground of the Mushroom Rock Road slowly fading away.

Chuckling as Baralai finally unleashed a loud laugh of his own, Gippal took a seat again.

As Baralai calmed down, he spoke again, back to business as usual. "About the machina. How about if we come to a compromise? You increase the amount you send to us, and we send out a message of goodwill saying that you're to be truste-"

"Yawn." Gippal raised his hand to his mouth to display his boredom. "Don't we have anythin' BETTER to talk about than these stupid little politics? I dunno about you, but I have much better things to talk about." He propped his feet up on the table, something Nooj would have strongly disapproved of had he still been present. "It's been years since we've just talked. The good old days ain't over yet, even if you are some self important Praetor guy."

"S-self important?" spluttered Baralai, blushing again.

"Hey, I'm bein' nice about it. Doctor P would make you cry. She'd be all "Get a life. I've got more interesting people than you to talk to.""

"H-hey!" Baralai frowned. "I HAVE got better things to talk about."

"Then talk about em." Gippal grinned. "I'm listenin'. How's the engagement with the High Summoner goin'?"

"What?" Baralai's frowned lightened into a neutral expression, then became confused. "Engagement?"

"Yeah!" Gippal waved his right hand in a circular motion. "Ya know, from a year ago! The arranged marriage."

"Oh that." Baralai sighed. "It didn't go through. She didn't wanna go through with it."

Gippal snorted, his lip quavering as he tried desperately to suppress his laughter. "That's... uh... pretty sad, B." He grinned again, the eye not covered by a patch twinkling with mirth.

"OK." Baralai leaned forward, staring into Gippal's eye. "How's your love life going?"

"Don't call it a love life." Gippal waved a hand dismissively. "Ya make it sound all weird."

Baralai blushed a little again, but persisted stubbornly. "You're dodging the question."

"Am I?" Gippal blinked in false innocence. "I hadn't noticed." Stretching again, he replied. "Nope. Ain't got anyone. Ain't really got the time."

"Yeah right." Baralai laughed.

"You're not any better off than me!" Gippal raised an eyebrow as he propped himself up, sitting on the table now. "You think you can judge me, Baralai? Huh?" Baralai's face reddened even more. Gippal's grin widened. "You're lookin' a little hot there, Baralai."

"N-Nooj wouldn't want you up there." Baralai was stammering again.

"Nooj ain't here though." Gippal tilted his head to one side. "Is he?" He crawled across the table on his hands and knees, his grin becoming a coy smile as Baralai continued to stammer and splutter nervously.

Finally reaching the spot where Baralai was sitting, Gippal leaned down a little, still smiling, and grabbed Baralai's collar, causing the Praetor to instinctively pull back. "W-what are you doing?"

"Everybody needs somebody, B," grinned Gippal, smiling confidently as he kept a hold of Baralai's collar, pulling him up to the desk with incredible strength, so that they were a hair's breadth away from one another, Baralai looking half intimidated, half confused.

"Go on. Tell me you don't want this." Gippal grinned as Baralai's blush finally became about as scarlet as it could get, but the Praetor remained silent, looking into his eyes and nodding, his eyes softening as he smiled shakily back.

Lips locked and Baralai was pushed down onto the table as Gippal began to undress. "If Nooj hated me sitting on the table, he's really gonna hate this." He threw his vest away, exposing his muscled chest as Baralai began to undress, fingers fumbling on his shirt as he repeated Gippal's movements. "It might even make him a Deathseeker again." Baralai laughed shakily, in shock and awe at the suddenness of this development.

"Now, are we gonna get started or what?" Gippal smiled as his hands reached up to untie his eye patch.

VVVVVVVVVVVVV

Looking a little more messy than before, with crumpled clothes, ruffled hair, and a suspicious stain on the desk that would likely never come out, Gippal and Baralai sat back in their normal seats, Baralai not quite meeting Gippal's eye, looking quiet and contemplative.

Finally he looked up, that usual unshakeable composure back on his face.

"Fine. You can keep the machina.

Gippal grinned as he propped his chin up with one fist again.

"I know."


End file.
